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Welcome to My Furniture Forum, sponsored by The Keeping Room, a dealer in high quality leather and reproduction furniture.

How its Packed - Hancock and Moore

One of the reasons that Hancock and Moore always arrives in great condition is the way they pack their furniture. Here's a typical sofa pack that came in early this week. I thought I would document the unpacking procedure so you can see for yourself. This is the correct way to unpack one of these, and I've experimented with many methods over the past several years.

Notice my tools I use. Yes, that's a cordless Sawzall to cut the crating boards!...and a cordless driver using a # 2 square drive bit. The only other thing needed is a box cutter.

Notice that this particular piece was handled roughly by the freight company. The box at the lower edges is shredded, but the wood crating has fully protected the sofa.

Steps to unpack:

1) Flip box upside-down so the exposed base is UP.

2) Cut the four box corners vertically to collapse the box, easing the sofa onto its back. This has to be done to take the weight of the sofa off the screws. Done right, the sofa sinks slowly and gently and comes to rest on its top.

3) Cut around the wood frame horizontally and splay the box out.

4) Remove the wood screws that hold the crate frame to the sofa

5) Use Sawzall to cut the cross members inside the stretcher base.

6) Remove the crating frame.

7) Remove the packing material from the exposed wood and inspect the wood.

8) Flip the sofa right side up, inspect. Remove all loose staples in the cardboard before making the flip to upright.

Attached Thumbnails

Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum
I ask that you do NOT call my store with general furniture questions, that is what the forum is for

Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum
I ask that you do NOT call my store with general furniture questions, that is what the forum is for

Comparison: Flexsteel Packing

Here's a Flexsteel Export packing by comparison. These two pieces came from China packed exactly as you see them. There was no exterior cardboard to protect the pieces, just foamed.

Both were damage-free (which is what packing is supposed to do), but I literally filled the dumpster with bubble and foam wrap from the Flexsteel pack on these two pieces. There was an amazing amount of non-biodegradable material used to package these. Flexsteel really needs to be more land-fill friendly in their packing. All the H&M materials are recycleable (and yes, I do recycle them in a cardboard dumpster we have, and give the crating lumber to a local guy that uses it for projects).

This was a special order Flexsteel dual recliner sofa/loveseat for a customer that I normally would not carry. While it looks great, it was one of the most uncomfortable sitting pieces I've come across, with no neck or head support when reclined, and the footrests come up too high. VERY heavy pieces however....they were substanial.

Attached Thumbnails

Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum
I ask that you do NOT call my store with general furniture questions, that is what the forum is for

I just has a customer and one of our forum members take delivery of his H&M Sectional via HDS and it was scuffed / lightly damaged because the delivery service unscrewed the sofa while the box was standing on end. You can't let them do that - because the piece 'falls' in the box when that happens. Also, the last screw holding that 150 lb piece will not be backed all the way out when the sofa falls, so it can tear things, including the leather, when that happens.

I'm going to make this thread a 'sticky' to keep it at the top of the forum. When your H&M arrives in the box - no matter whom you bought your piece from or what delivery service brings it - refer back to these instructions. I've personally un-boxed several hundred H&M pieces. This is the RIGHT way to do it, and the only way to make sure it comes out of the shipping crate damage-free. You are within your rights as the customer to insist that the delivery company use this method of unpacking. They may moan and groan a little, but I would recommend you stand your ground and make sure they do it as in the steps above.

Note that the Sawzall is not used for all pieces, usually only ones that have a stretcher-base. However a cordless driver to back the screws out, preferably with a #2 Square Drive bit is a must-have.

Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum
I ask that you do NOT call my store with general furniture questions, that is what the forum is for

Re: How its Packed - Hancock and Moore

An update to this thread. I have unpacked thousands of Hancock and Moore sofas over the decades, and this is still the best way to do it. By using this method, there is no stress placed on the sofa itself and its a bit unorthodox, so should you ever take delivery of one and unpack it yourself, this is the best way to unpack without damaging your new piece.

Ease the box down, with the open end of the box facing the sky. Don't drop the box, if you do the packing frame will shatter. Ease it down gently. Once its on the ground, take your cutter and cut all around the box below the dotted line on all four sides. Pay attention to make sure your blade is not over-penetrating the box and contacting the leather on the sofa.

One you have it cut horizontally all the way around, make eight vertical cuts (two on each side of the corner) from top to bottom.

Now, splay the cardboard sides and ends you just cut. As you push them out, the sofa will slowly settle onto the top of the back. It will be fine like that, even if the top is exposed wood. It will go down very softly and look like this:

Now unscrew the # 2 square drive screws from the packing frame. If you don't have a # 2 square drive bit, a # 2 Phillips *may* work if you are careful and go very slow on backout, however you are likely to either strip the head or break the screw with a Phillips bit. When all the screws are out (about 14 to 20) then remove the packing frame and set aside. Lift the frame straight up and do not drag it across the legs of the sofa.

Scroll to the next post as I can only attach five photos per post

Last edited by drcollie; 07-31-2017 at 10:48 PM.

Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum
I ask that you do NOT call my store with general furniture questions, that is what the forum is for

Re: How its Packed - Hancock and Moore

Here's what the sofa looks like when upside down. Remove the tape and slide off the protective cover.

Leave the foot protector padding on until the sofa is turned over.

Roll or lift the sofa over to its upright position and you are all done, and ready to take inside or load into a truck, etc. It will not hurt to roll it forward, just make sure there is a pad down as you do to avoid marking the leather.

Watch out for the carton staples, they will easily cut you when you go to pickup the cardboard to put in the trash and can also tear the leather. Nasty things!

Last edited by drcollie; 07-21-2017 at 12:47 PM.

Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum
I ask that you do NOT call my store with general furniture questions, that is what the forum is for